


Radio Riptide

by fallingleaves



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Awkward Sexual Situations, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Medical, Medical Conditions, Romance, Sexual Content, Sickfic, Withdrawal, depression symptoms, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 02:38:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4042549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingleaves/pseuds/fallingleaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry was freezing.  Absolutely, utterly, bone-deep, worse than he could ever remember, freezing.  And Caitlin had him stripped to his boxers, sitting on a hospital bed.<br/>Barry's fight with the latest meta human has some unsavory side effects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Frozen

Barry was freezing. Absolutely, utterly, bone-deep, worse than he could ever remember, freezing. And Caitlin had him stripped to his boxers, sitting on a hospital bed.  
“I’m fine,” Barry got out between chattering teeth. He batted Caitlin’s hand away. “Can I please, have some blankets now.”  
He winced as Caitlin took his arm for another blood sample. “You can have blankets,” Caitlin said, “once we figure out why you’re freezing. You have a fever - your body is trying to warm itself.”  
“Well can’t we help it along?” Barry asked, shivering.  
“Something’s up with his hormones,” Cisco said from the monitor. Caitlin went over to look, and her expression got more and more confused, staring intently.  
“Your neurotransmitter readouts are going crazy,” she said, “and your hormones - plus there are antibodies in your blood like it’s fighting a virus, except there’s no foreign entities that I can find.”  
“So I’m sick,” Barry said, “can I please, please put on some clothes now.”  
“No,” Caitlin snapped, “I can’t risk you overheating - your temperature is too high - there’s no physical danger from the cold - you’re fine.”  
“Yeah, well, it still doesn’t feel good,” he said, wrapping his arms around himself. He was shivering like crazy, so hard he was starting to vibrate a little.  
“I’m sorry, Barry - until I can figure out why this is happening, you need to keep your body cool, not make the fever worse.”  
“What she means is suck it up,” Cisco said.  
Barry gritted his teeth. “Yeah, I got that, Cisco.”  
Caitlin fiddled with the monitors and ran his blood through one of the machines. “Your serotonin levels are way off,” she said, “dopamine too - everything is either too low or too high - it’s like the pulse sent a current straight through your systems and messed everything up.”  
“Oh, I got it!” Cisco said, “Biohazard - ooh, no, Radio Riptide.”  
“What the hell does this have to do with radio -” Barry started.  
“The neurons are over-firing - I need a brain scan,” Caitlin said, moving around them both to set something up.  
“Waves, man, electromagnetic pulses,” Cisco said.  
Barry shook his head. “That’s still not the same as -”  
“Can we please worry about naming the metahuman after we figure out what the metahuman actually did,” Caitlin said.  
Cisco paused. “She has a point.”  
“Can that point please get me a blanket faster,” Barry said. He felt like he was freezing to death.  
“No,” Caitlin said, dragging over a cart with a bunch of monitors before starting to stick them all over Barry’s head. She put in an IV and Barry flinched away.  
“Aren’t you done with the needles yet?” he asked.  
“No,” she said, ignoring him and the wince she got once she slid the needle into his arm.  
About ten minutes later Caitlin was staring at the screen and Cisco was helping Barry get the monitors all off.  
“Whatever it is,” Caitlin said, “it’s gone. Everything is still going crazy inside you right now, but your body’s basically trying to fix it now. Fever and antibodies looks like it’s just a reaction - you feel so cold because of some sort of neural problem - it should be fine if you try and get warm - your temperature is actually stabilized - looks like the only thing that is.”  
“Thank God,” Barry said, jumping off the bed, almost ripping out the IV before Cisco caught his arm to stop him. He helped him get the thing out and then Barry had disappeared, and was back in an instant wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt with three blankets wrapped around him and suddenly looking like he was going to throw up.  
“OK, running - bad idea,” he said, wobbling. Caitlin grabbed his arm while Cisco was at his shoulder, gently lowering him back to sitting on the bed.  
“Well, if you had waited,” Caitlin said, “I could have told you that.”  
Barry shivered some more, pulling the blankets in around himself, clearing the dizziness from his head.  
“So what’s going on?” he asked, looking dazed.  
Caitlin sighed. “Basically, whatever the meta did sort of zapped your systems, and it’s all trying to get itself sorted back out. You’re lucky. If you weren’t so healthy already, it could have made you really sick.”  
“What’s actually wrong?” he asked.  
“A lot,” Caitlin said, “serotonin, dopamine, nerophiline - their levels are all off - probably going to make you tired, and don’t be surprised if you develop a slight tremor - acetylene was affected too - it’s going to make you moody. Your estrogen and testosterone are way down - nearly disappeared, but they’re rising already. You have hyperactivity of the amygdala but lack of activity in the cerebellum, and basically haywire in the prefrontal cortex, so expect some rash decision making, not that you were great with that to begin with -”  
“I do not -”  
“Anyway, you’re not going to be feeling great for it looks like the next couple days, if things continue to move at the rate they are now. Your speed healing doesn’t appear to be working on this one - in fact, I think it’s making things worse, because it’s just adding to the chaos as your body works back to equilibrium. That might be why you're so cold - your body wants you to get warmer to speed things up.” She looked thoughtful at that, contemplating it.  
Eddie walked in through the doors then, looking concerned and a little confused.  
“So the guy at the bank robber-”  
“Meta,” Barry said from underneath the pile of blankets.  
“We got him,” Cisco said, “but Barry got a little screwed up.”  
Eddie walked over, worry taking on his expression, his eyes already scanning for an injury.  
“I’m fine,” Barry said, “just freezing.” His teeth chattered again.  
“It looks like he sends a pulse of energy through the body which interrupts normal functioning,” Caitlin said, “we’re not entirely sure - just that Barry’s vitals and chemical levels are all way off. He should be fine in a few days.”  
“Few days, that’s long for you,” Eddie said, pulling Barry in close to his side. Barry scooted over just a little bit, hoping he didn’t notice how absolutely a relief it was to get some body heat. Eddie leaned down and kissed the top of his head briefly. “You feel OK?”  
“Cold,” Barry said.  
“He’s going to feel a little sick for a few days while it wears off,” Caitlin said, “But as far as I can tell he should be fine - you can take him home if you want.”  
Barry frowned. Normally he didn’t like it when Caitlin said it like that, like he was a little kid and Caitlin was giving Eddie permission to take him back home, but he was too cold to care, and home sounded absolutely wonderful right about now.  
“That sounds like a good idea,” Eddie said, looking over at him. Barry just shivered, nodding, and then tried to get up. He felt shaky on his feet and grabbed at Eddie’s arm to steady him.  
“No running,” Caitlin said, “take it easy. Rest.”  
Barry just grabbed at the blankets some more, not willing to give them up and Eddie put a hand around his shoulder and nodded back at Caitlin.  
“I’ll call you if anything changes,” he said.  
“If his temperature gets above 104 then he needs to get rid of all those blankets,” Caitlin said, “it’s stable now, so he should be fine, but if you notice it rising fast then he needs to cool off. He can get a higher temperature than regular people because of his speed, but if it gets above 106 then he needs an ice bath.”  
Barry made a nasty face and was about to protest but Eddie spoke first. “Will do. I’ll call you if anything happens.” They were out the door before Barry could tell Caitlin exactly what he thought about that ice bath.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Barry snuggled in closer to Eddie on the couch, trying to get warm. Eddie by contrast was sweating, had already changed out of his work clothes to shorts and a thin undershirt. Barry was radiating like a heater and he had already checked his temperature several times, sure it had to be too high, but it stayed stuck at around 102.  
Barry couldn’t get warm. It had gone from annoyingly unpleasant to downright uncomfortable, and it didn’t matter how many blankets he got, nothing was helping. Eddie had dug out his old heating pad and put it behind Barry’s back, had sat down with him and let him press right up against him, had even dug out the spare comforter from the back of the closet, but Barry was still freezing, teeth chattering, shivering.   
Eddie looked down at him, and rubbed a hand over his shoulder under the blankets, trying to warm him up a little.  
“You want me to call Cait, babe?” Eddie asked gently.  
Barry shook his head. He felt miserable and he didn’t want any more poking and prodding. He just wanted to sit with Eddie and get warm.  
“I’m so c-cold,” he said. He couldn’t even stop the chattering from interfering with his speech now - it was nonstop. The shivering had very nearly gone to painful with the way he couldn’t stop that either.  
Eddie rubbed his arm some more. Barry looked exhausted, not to mention entirely miserable.  
“You want to try a hot bath?” he asked. He kissed the top of his head again. “Your temperature’s not budging, so we could try it.”  
Barry was silent for a second, and then he nodded. Eddie got up and Barry followed him, trailing blankets like some sort of winter monster. It would have been funny, Barry’s face peeping out from underneath the walking heap, if it weren’t for the fact that he was in so much obvious discomfort. He wouldn’t relinquish the blanket mass until Eddie had the tub filled with steaming water, all set and ready for him.   
Barry shrugged off the blankets in the hallway, and then quickly got rid of the rest of his clothes until he was naked. Eddie watched as he got in, his skin all goose pimples. He lowered himself down, folding in his legs to fit as much as possible of his body under the water. He leaned back until the water was at his neck, and closed his eyes, seemed to relax at least a little bit for the first time since they’d gotten there.  
“Is that better?” Eddie asked.  
Barry nodded. He hugged himself under the water. He was still cold, but it wasn't as bad now, and that was a relief.  
Barry stayed in the bath for an hour, at which point the water had cooled enough that it wasn’t helping too much. Eddie had left him to make dinner, and Barry came out of the bathroom, wrapped back up in blankets, to find burgers there - one for Eddie and three for Barry.  
“I’ll make more if you’re still hungry,” Eddie said, sitting down. But about five minutes into the meal it became apparent that Eddie wouldn’t have to be making any more burgers. Barry took a couple bites of his first one and then just picked at the bread.   
“Not hungry?” Eddie asked, frowning.  
Barry shook his head. He had his eyes down, on the plate, and had gone silent.  
Eddie finished up his food, and then put Barry’s uneaten burgers in the fridge. Barry didn't move the whole time, had put his elbow up on the table and was resting his chin on his hand, watching him distractedly.  
“Are you feeling OK?” Eddie asked, coming over to him carefully. He put a hand on Barry’s shoulder and Barry shook his head.  
“Just tired,” he said.  
“You wanna lie down?” Eddie asked, still frowning. Barry nodded, and got up. Without looking to see if Eddie was following he went into the bedroom, and laid down. He wasn’t shivering so badly anymore, Eddie noticed, even if he did still have all the blankets wrapped around him. He went into the bedroom after him.  
They just laid down for a while, and Eddie was starting to drift off with one arm wrapped around Barry, who he thought had already fallen asleep, when he heard him talk.  
“I don’t feel so good.”  
It was a mumble against his chest and Eddie woke up from whatever state of dozing he had been in to shift a little so he could see Barry better.  
“Caitlin said you’d probably feel a little sick,” he said. He kissed his forehead. “What’s wrong?”  
“I don’t know,” he said, and he shivered again, moving closer to Eddie. He was quiet for a second, and then he spoke again, his voice coming out hesitantly. “Cait said… she said that I’d get moody or something, but I…” he trailed off, stopped, swallowed, “I don’t know, Eddie, I really don’t feel good.”  
“Alright, well it’s OK,” Eddie said, holding him a little tighter, “I’m right here. It’s OK.”  
Barry shook his head, started to tremble a little bit. His voice shook. “I really, really don’t feel good.” His voice was hollow, rough sounding, like he was about to cry.  
“What’s wrong?” Eddie asked, worried now.  
“I don’t know,” Barry said, his voice tiny, and his face was a little red, embarrassed, “I just… I feel awful. I don’t… I don’t even know why.”  
“It’s just the chemicals in your brain,” Eddie said, “why don’t you try and just sleep it off, babe, OK? You’ll probably feel better in the morning.”  
Barry nodded. Yeah, that made sense. It was just the chemicals. He tried to shake off the feeling that he couldn’t pin down, the hopelessness, worthlessness. It came out of nowhere, and he just felt low. He breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of Eddie and of their apartment together and it calmed him a little bit. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.


	2. Headache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So medical stuff is as accurate as I can make it (I am not a doctor) and other than that, next chapter! :)

Eddie woke up to a shifting body next to him and small noises of discomfort.  He was a light sleeper, and Barry had occasional nightmares, so he had gotten used to waking up in the middle of the night to Barry’s restless sleeping.  He propped himself up a little bit on one elbow, letting his eyes adjust until he could see Barry.

            He was spread out on the bed, taking up most of it actually, and he had all the blankets kicked off.  He was still wearing the sweatshirt and sweatpants, but, as Eddie frowned and turned on the bedside lamp, he saw that Barry was now covered in sweat.  His hair was damp with it where it neared his forehead, and little drops had beaded up on his skin there.  He was lying on his back, arms spread eagle, and grasping at nothing.  His face was screwed up as if in pain, and he kept twitching, making little jerks of a hand or a foot or his mouth, every few seconds.

            “Barry, hey, Bar, wake up,” Eddie said, glancing at the clock.  It was three in the morning.  Normally, Eddie didn’t wake Barry up from his nightmares.  Only if he was moving too much, or yelling in his sleep, where it was clear he was in great distress or if Eddie was afraid he would hurt himself in his sleep.  Otherwise, he left him, and Barry didn’t remember the dream when he woke up, so it was better that way.  The nightmares bothered Barry, Eddie knew, but if he didn’t wake up, then he never remembered them in the morning, so Eddie didn’t wake him up unless he thought Barry was going to wake himself up, in which case he’d rather wake him up sooner and not make him go through the rest of the dream.  But the sweating after his constant shivering had Eddie worried, and he wanted to check his temperature.

            “Barry, come on, babe, wake up,” he said.  He shook Barry’s shoulder, and then Barry jumped up with a start, eyes going wide.  He looked around, blinking frantically, one hand gripping Eddie’s wrist.

            “Hey, it’s OK,” Eddie said, “just a dream, Barry.  You’re at home, you’re in bed.  It’s OK, it was just a nightmare.”

            Barry’s breathing evened out pretty quickly, quicker than normal actually, but he shook his head.  His hands were trembling.

            “Not a nightmare, not - I - oh, God, Eddie.”  He doubled over like he was in pain and Eddie shifted, leaning down.

            “What’s wrong?” he asked.

            “I - I can’t - I don’t know,” Barry said.  He was staring at his hands, which kept trembling, shaking uncontrollably.  His face looked feverish, his skin flushed red.

            “Let me grab the thermometer,” Eddie said.  He ran and got it, and Barry sat on the bed waiting, watching him and staring down at his hands alternatively.  He opened his mouth with no protest when Eddie came back, and he stuck the thermometer in it.  A few seconds later it beeped.

            Eddie frowned.  His temperature was a little elevated, 102.7, but not anything to worry about.  He turned back to Barry to find him shrugging out of his sweatshirt, pulling it over his head.

            “You warm now?” he asked, frowning.

            “I’m so hot,” Barry said, and his voice came out shaky.  He started wriggling out of the sweatpants as well, leaving him in only his boxers.  His hands kept trembling though, making it difficult.  He held them up when he was done.  “They… they won’t stop.”

            Eddie took his hands in his.  Barry stared down at them, frowning.

            “Are you panicking?  You don’t sound anxious - I mean, not like when you start trembling usually.”

            Barry shook his head.  “No - I don’t know - I feel sick.  Caitlin said it could make me shake - that must just be it.”  Barry shuddered, a movement more like a shiver, but he was so hot.  He let out a groan, his expression morphing to a wince.  He laid back again, letting his head hit the pillow, but only a few seconds later was cringing again.

            “What’s wrong?” Eddie asked, going down on his side next to him, instinctively looking for injuries even though he knew they weren’t there.

            “Everything hurts,” Barry mumbled.  He hid his face in the crook of his elbow, groaning again and bringing it up over his eyes.  “I ache everywhere.”

            Eddie frowned and Barry’s breathing started getting harsher.  He started fidgeting, squirming.

            “I don’t feel good,” he mumbled, and let out another groan.  He was shaking all over now, shivering, but covered in sweat.  He let out a whimper.

            “Bar?” Eddie said, growing more and more concerned.

            “I feel awful,” Barry said.  Barry’s head was spinning.  He was dizzy and growing nauseous.  “Eddie,” he said.

            “I’m right here, babe,” Eddie said, rubbing a hand up and down his arm.

            “I don’t - I feel really sick.  Something’s wrong, I don’t feel good.”

            “What doesn’t feel good?” Eddie said.

            “My… my head, and my stomach, and, and fuck, Eddie everything, everything hurts - I feel sore all over and I - and I still feel awful, it’s still there except it’s worse, I don’t - please.”  Barry had his eyes squeezed tightly shut and to Eddie’s shock tears started slipping out of them.  Eddie sat back on his heels on the bed, at a complete loss as to what to do, how he could help.

            Barry fidgeted some more, restless squirming, his movements jerky.  “Ta-take me back to Cait, I - I can’t - make it stop, please.”  He curled to one side, then moved to the other, straining his neck, little noises coming out of his throat.  “Please, please stop, please.”

            “OK, Bar, I’m gonna call Cait, OK?” Eddie said, “just hold still OK?  I’m gonna call her right now.”  He went fumbling for the phone, trying to keep an eye on Barry as he writhed on the bed, whimpering and groaning.  He put a hand against his head once he found the phone, selected her contact with his free hand.

            It rang three times before she picked up, and every one of them made Eddie panic a little more.

            “Hello?”

            “Hi, Caitlin, it’s Eddie - something’s wrong with Barry - I don’t - he’s in pain, he said - we don’t know what’s going on, but I think it’s getting wor-”

            “OK, wait, slow down,” Caitlin said, “what’s going on?”

            “Barry’s lying on the bed and his fever went up a little but he’s way too hot now, and he’s sweating and shivering and he said he was sore all over and I -”  Eddie cut off as Barry turned to one side and started dry heaving, throwing up bile over the side of the bed since there was nothing in his stomach.  Eddie leaned over and started rubbing his back, throwing out a few comforting words before bringing the phone back to his ear.

            “He just threw up.  His hands are shaking and he’s trembling all over and -”

            “OK, Eddie, I’m pretty sure he’s fine,” Caitlin said.

            “He’s fine?” Eddie repeated, looking at Barry, who looked most decidedly not fine.

            “I think he’s going through withdrawal - or something like it - his endorphin levels are probably too low - was he -”

            “He was complaining about feeling bad,” he said, “before - he said he felt awful - he seemed really down, not very responsive - he wouldn’t eat anything.”

            “Yeah, it’s probably the endorphins mixed with -”

            “OK, but what do I do?”

            “It will probably pass within the hour.  Get him comfortable.  If he has an endorphin deficiency then he’s going to be really sensitive to pain - get him some ice or a heating pad and try and get him to relax - if he tenses up he’ll just make things worse.  Try and get him to eat something - carbs preferably.  The rest of it, he’s just going to have to wait through.  There’s nothing I can give him, Eddie.”

            Eddie frowned, looked over at Barry.  “OK, so basically, there’s nothing we can do?”

            “Not much,” Caitlin said reluctantly, “Stay with him - if he feels up to it you could try exercising a little bit - that might create more production of endorphins - but I don’t know if his systems just aren’t producing them, in which case there really is nothing we can do.  And, well, sex would also normally create endorphins.”

            “Uh, I don’t think that’s on the table right now,” Eddie said, feeling his face heat up a little bit, and looking over at Barry, who was still making noises of pain every few seconds.

            “Yeah, didn’t think so,” Caitlin said, “I’m sorry Eddie - there’s really nothing I can do - just watch his temperature and if it goes up, or if he’s not better in an hour or two then call me again and I’ll meet you at Star labs.  I can go now, if you want, but -”

            “But there’s nothing you can do,” Eddie said, sighing, “and he’ll be more comfortable here.”

            “Yeah,” Caitlin said, and Eddie could hear the sad smile in her voice.

            “Thanks, Caitlin, I’ll call again in the morning - or, well, later, in the morning.”

            She laughed briefly, and then said goodbye as well and they both hung up.  Eddie turned back to Barry, sighing.

            “Barry, babe,” Eddie said, pushing back the sweaty hair that was clinging to Barry’s face, “it’s normal - Caitlin can’t give you anything for it, Bar, we’re just gonna have to get through it.”

            Barry shook his head.  He was gasping.  “No, Eddie, no, you don’t understand, please.”

            “I’m sorry, babe, you’re gonna just have to try and relax, OK?  Does anything in particular hurt?  You want ice on anything?”

            Barry shook his head.  “‘m cold now,” he mumbled.

            Eddie took a blanket and brought it up to his neck.  He wiped away a couple of tears still making their way down the sides of Barry’s face.

            “It’s going to be OK, Bar - can you try and relax for me?  Stop tensing all up?”

            Barry shook his head.  He let out a sob.  “Eddie, it hurts.”

            “What hurts, babe?”

            “Everything - m-my head worse, it’s pounding - it’s - worse than a migraine, it hurts so much.”

            “Just breathe through it, Bar.  Sure you don’t want an ice pack for that?”

            “Maybe - God, please, I’ll - I’ll try it, just - please.”

            Eddie was up in a second, grabbing an ice pack they had in the freezer.  He brought it back and draped it over Barry’s forehead.

            “That feel any better?” Eddie asked after a minute.

            “I don’t - a little, maybe a little - I - fuck, fuck.”  He strained suddenly to one side, crying out, before falling back limp, only to start dry heaving to the side again.

            “You have to try and relax, Bar,” Eddie said, combing his fingers through Barry’s hair.  “Don’t tense your shoulders - your arms.  Come on.  Just relax.  It’ll help, I promise, Barry.”

            Barry tried, Eddie could see that.  He alternated between opening his eyes in a desperate, pain-filled gazes, and squeezing them tightly shut.  He started trying to stop, to relax, to force his body to still.

            “That’s it - deep breaths, Barry.”  Eddie mimicked a few long breaths and Barry reached up, put a hand against his chest, feeling it rise and fall, and started trying to mirror it.  After maybe another ten minutes he had calmed down a fair amount, and the spasmodic jerking had ceased.

            “How’s that?” Eddie asked softly.

            “Better,” Barry said, “but it still… it’s still bad, Eddie.”

            “What do you want?” Eddie asked, “You want to move to the couch, watch a movie, or -”

            “No, just, just hold me?  Please - please Eddie, I just - i don’t -”

            “Hey, that’s fine,” Eddie said, “that’s OK.”  He was already shifting, snaking one arm under Barry’s side and pulling him closer.  He kissed the side of his face before readjusting the ice pack over his forehead.

            “I… I keep thinking about my mom,” Barry said.

            “Mood congruent memory,” Eddie said, kissing the back of his head, “the chemicals in your brain are triggering depression, so you’re thinking about upsetting things.”

            “Someone payed attention in psychology,” Barry muttered under his breath.

            “One of the few classes in college that I found interesting,” Eddie said, kissing him again.  “It’s OK - just try and block them out.”

            “I feel awful.”

            “I know, Bar, it’ll pass, I promise.  You should try and get some more sleep.”

            “I don’t think I’ll be able to.”

            “You sure you don’t want to move to the couch?”

            “Yeah, I’m sure.”

           

 

 

LLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

 

            They dozed off at some point, and Eddie was in the middle of a great dream involving endless chocolate and a waterslide when he started to wake.

            “Eddie, Eddie, wa- ah - wa-wake up, wake up, Eddie.”

            He jolted awake as soon as the tone of voice registered, bolting to a sitting position, and Barry’s head was in his lap and he had both hands pressing on the sides of his head and he was crying, gritting his teeth and yelling and crying, his whole body tight as a wire.

            “Hey, I’m awake, I’m awake, what’s wrong, Barry?”

            “M-ah ahhh, gh - m-my head - my head.”  Barry clenched his teeth together just as a scream worked up his throat.

            “I’ll get ice,” Eddie said, because he didn’t know what to do.  He ran into the kitchen, almost tripped getting a plastic bag to put the ice in.  By the time he got back Barry was splayed halfway across the bed, moaning in pain and banging one hand hard against the side of his skull.

            “Hey, easy, easy,” Eddie said, getting a hold of his wrist to stop the movements.

            “It hu-urrrtts!”

            “I know, Bar, I know, shh, deep breaths, come on, I’ve got some ice, this’ll help, Bar.”

            “Eddie, I can’t - I can’t breathe, God, fuck, Eddie, it hurts, it’s - ah, God, God, please.”

            Eddie pressed the ice against his forehead as Barry kept crying, sobbing against him.  He was biting down on one of his hands, his fist in his mouth to try and muffle the sounds.

            “Shh, babe, it’s OK.  It’s OK.  I’m gonna call Cait, OK, Bar.”

            Barry nodded vigorously and Eddie reached over to grab his cell phone, his hand on Barry’s back the whole time, rubbing circles.

            “Hello?”

            “Cait?  Caitlin, it’s Eddie - it’s - Barry’s head hurts now, and I don’t - Caitlin something’s wrong he’s in a lot of pain, he can’t stop yelling.”

            “OK,” she said, “bring him into Star labs.  I’ll meet you there, I’m already on my way in.  I’ll do another brain scan - can you ask him to describe the pain?”

            “Barry, can you describe the pain for me?” Eddie said.

            “On - ah, on this side,” he said, holding the right side of his head, “right behind my eye, and it - it’s throbbing, and it - awful, bad, worse than - than breaking my wrist - it’s - ahh, it hurts, it’s stabbing, Eddie.”

            Eddie relayed it to Caitlin, trying to comfort Barry as well.  He was grounding his head into Eddie’s thigh now, squirming and fidgeting.

            “Can you look at his eye?  The right one, where he said the pain was?  Is it swollen, any odd pupil dilation, redness?”

            “Bar, sweetheart, I need to see your face for a second,” Eddie said, moving his hands around his shoulders.  Barry moved up, whimpering.  When Eddie tried to move his hands away from his face he pulled back, his arms trembling.  “Open your eyes for me, sweetheart,” Eddie said, holding both his wrists back.

            “His right eye looks a little swollen,” Eddie said to Caitlin, the phone between his chin and shoulder, “I can’t see any difference in his pupils, and both his eyes are red but he’s been crying.”  He let go of Barry’s hands and Barry immediately had them back at his head.  Eddie wrapped an arm around him and Barry pushed his head against Eddie’s shoulder, groaning.

            “It sounds like a cluster headache,” Caitlin said, sounding confused.  “Do you know if he has any history of that?”

            “Barry, babe, do you know if you have any history of cluster headaches in your family?  Did you ever get them before?”

            “No,” Barry got out, still grinding his head against Eddie’s shoulder, making Eddie wince.

            “He said no,” Eddie relayed.

            “That’s odd.  Might be something with the trigeminal nerve - bring him in and I’ll get a brain scan and see.”

            “OK, thanks, we’ll be there as soon as we can,” Eddie said, and hung up.  “Bar, babe, we’re gonna go see Cait at Star labs,” Eddie said.

            Barry nodded against him and Eddie carefully put his hands on his shoulders, guiding him away so that he could stand up.  “I’m gonna get dressed and then we can go, OK?” Eddie said, “Can you put on some sweatpants, Bar?”

            Barry nodded, and started to move, his hands shaking.  His breathing was harsh, and Eddie got dressed quickly and then helped Barry.  They walked out, Barry’s face screwed up in pain as they made it down the elevator.  One of their neighbors gave them an odd look, which turned concerned.

            “You guys alright there?” he asked.

            “Fine,” Barry ground out, teeth clenched.

            “We’re going to a hospital,” Eddie said, “migraine.  He’ll be alright.”  They continued outside and got in the car.

            Barry didn’t do well in the car.  He was rocking back and forth the whole time, unable to sit still, and every bump had him shouting through his teeth or groaning.  His face was deathly pale and he was covered in sweat.

            When they finally got inside, Caitlin was waiting for them.  Her eyes widened when she saw the state that Barry was in.  “Come on,” she said.

            She led them to one of the rooms, and hooked up a million and one monitors to Barry.  He fidgeted and flinched away throughout the entire time, to the point where Eddie had to hold his shoulders still, keep his hands down, away from his face. 

            “Yeah, there’s something up with the trigeminal nerve, and the hypothalamus is particularly active - it looks exactly like a cluster headache.  But if Barry’s never gotten one before than he’s either very unlucky, and this is his first, or it’s just the metahuman and his shock or whatever messed with the trigeminal nerve enough to trigger this.”

            “I like the second better,” Barry said through his teeth.

            “We could see if some of the medications used for cluster headaches work on you if you keep getting them,” Caitlin said, “but it’s a rare condition.  Let’s just hope it was only the metahuman, and this is a one time thing.”

            Once Caitlin had the monitors off, Barry was up and pacing.  He couldn’t sit still.  He didn’t appear to be in as much pain as before, or maybe he had just gotten used to it by now, because he had stopped crying, although he was still groaning and yelling and banging a fist against the side of his head every once in a while.  It lasted almost an hour before the pain finally wore off.

 

LLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

 

            “I feel exhausted,” Barry said, leaning back against Eddie.

            “You can sleep if you want,” Eddie said, “that must have taken a lot out of you.”

            “I don’t think I’ve ever been in that much pain,” Barry said.  “It had better just be the meta - I don’t think I could handle that if it were a regular thing.”  He shuddered just thinking about it.

            “It’s probably the meta,” Eddie said, “seems like way too much of a coincidence to be anything else.”

            “Yeah, probably - God, I hope so.”

            Eddie squeezed him tighter.  “Caitlin was saying it might be a good idea for you to stay here for the next couple days, while you’re still sick.”

            “No,” Barry said.

            “Barry -”

            “No.”

            “If something happens, like that again, it would be easier -”

            “I don’t wanna stay here, Eddie, I wanna go home.”

            “I know, Bar, but I can’t run like you - I can’t get you here fast if something happens, and I know that car ride was really painful for you.  It might be better if we stayed.”

            “No.  I want to go home, Eddie.”

            Eddie sighed.  “Alright, Bar, but if something else happens again, and we have to run here?  You’re staying.  End of discussion.”

            Barry pursed his lips.  “Fine.  Can we go now though?  I really wanna lie down in bed again.”

            “OK,” Eddie said, “OK, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was my first fic on AO3, but no way new to it. Let me know what you guys think! Comments are totally and always appreciated!


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